The past decade has witnessed a tremendous surge in investment in hydropower projects in Southeast Asian countries on the part of Chinese corporations at the same time as the PRC continues to overdevelop its own hydropower potential and environmental protection takes greater priorities within the country. In this paper delivered at at a China - ASEAN power forum attended by hundreds of executives of leading PRC power companies, Zao Noam and Piaporn Deetes of Thailand argue that the social and environmental impacts from hydropower development in the Mekong countries must be seriously addressed in order to mitigate damaging impacts to regional economies, food security and rural livelihoods. Without comprehensive and careful consideration of hydropower's multi-faceted impacts, millions of small farmers and fisher folk whose livelihoods depend on the richness of the Mekong ecosystems will bear most of the costs of the infrastructure development. Civil society in the Mekong region urges the Chinese corporate sector to conduct hydropower development in the region according to international standards which minimizes socio-economic and ecological harm.